“Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.”—Sitting Bull (one of the quotes on the Honor Circle in the courtyard of our new middle school)

This summer I started reading a favorite series from my childhood to my daughter, the Little House books. She knew we had Native American ancestry far back in our blood, so lines like “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” were challenging to navigate, to say the least, as were the books’ assumptions about settlement rights. (The children’s picture book The Buffalo Are Backprovided a lot of great social and environmental context, which helped.)

Ultimately though, reading the Little House books has been a good thing for us to do together. It’s created a lot of dialogue about our ever-changing country, race issues, our ongoing cultural stew, what we’ve done right, and areas where we still have a long way to go.

With those conversations fresh in my mind, along with our country’s percolating nationality issues, we found ourselves at the ribbon cutting of her future middle school this week. The event featured a tribal blessing Continue reading →

Hey, remember me? Like you, I’ve been busy doing the summer juggle: a little vacation, a little work, a little downtime, and a whole lot of making memories.

Now fall is waiting in the wings. My evening walks greet a purple sky and school supplies sit ready by the door. One thing I’m especially looking forward to is finally meeting my illustrator in a couple weeks. Would you believe that, after all the time we’ve spent working remotely together on The Denim Jungle, we still have never met?!

In other words, life is full and ever-changing and happy, and my little book continues to bring me delightful surprises.

Speaking of delightful, I recently had a reader reach out with a few questions regarding their own book idea. I thought I’d share our conversation, in the event it could help any of you would-be authors get your dreams out into the world. Continue reading →

It blows my mind that there are currently women alive who weren’t born with the right to vote. And yet today, women in the U.S. not only have the right to vote, but there’s a woman on the ballot for the top ticket.

No matter where your political affinities lie, that’s rather remarkable, don’t you think? And it’s thanks to a whole host of fierce women who fought and earned it.

As we (hopefully) close the chapter on much of the anxiety and infighting of the past many months, let’s take a moment to extend some mutual respect for those who committed their legacy to securing a more equal future for all U.S. citizens.

How best to honor them?

Why, voting of course!

Better yet, get your kids excited about voting. Let’s pass the torch of our foremothers to a generation who can continue to make strides in equality. One day, it will be up to their vote.

There’s a writer who frequents our local park, gifting poems to people as writing practice for herself and her own special contribution to the community. She wrote one for my daughter the other day, and it was so on point, I teared up a bit.

I wanted to share it with all of you, as well as its message:

Don’t let anyone hold you back… and that includes yourself.

And, who knows? Maybe this will inspire your own bout of creative generosity. My daughter is already planning a front yard lemonade-type stand… but free, with her homemade stories and art as the treats.

Ever since I published my children’s book, would-be writers have been coming out of the woodwork asking for advice. And I couldn’t be happier to help. I want to see more dreams take flight!

That’s why I’ve created a new Writing & Publishing page under “The Archive” section (to the right, up top), to share resources for aspiring authors. Here you’ll find a long list of tips and ideas I’ve accumulated over the course of my publishing adventures. As I encounter more, I’ll keep adding to it, too.